An American woman who took part in the clinical trial for AstraZeneca’s Covid vaccine is suing the company, claiming it left her ‘permanently disabled’.
Brianne Dressen, 42 and a former teacher from Utah, volunteered for the trial in 2020 to ‘do her part’ and help beat the pandemic virus.
But within days of receiving the shot she developed a severe neurological condition and was hospitalized with painful sensation of pins and needles across her body.
The pain, which continues to flare-up, is so bad that the mother-of-two has become a ‘shadow of her former self’ — having to quit her job and being unable to look after her two children like she used to or even drive more than a few blocks.
She is suing AstraZeneca for an alleged breach of contract, saying they have failed to cover medical bills for her side effect — that run into hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Her case is thought to be the first of its kind in the US, where the British-made AstraZeneca jab was never approved. There are also more than 50 cases in the UK.
Brianne Dressen, 42 and a former teacher, is suing AstraZeneca after taking part in their Covid vaccine trial. She said their jab left her ‘permanently disabled’
Ms Dressen is suing for breach of contract, saying the company has failed to cover her medical bills incurred after suffering a severe neurological reaction to the vaccine. She said among the worst part was that her children, who are now nine and 11, do not remember what she was like before she suffered the alleged reaction
‘This thing took me out of my job — I’m still permanently disabled,’ she told the UK’s Telegraph.
‘I still have that horrific nightmare of the pins and needles sensation coursing through my body, head to toe, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.’
But the worst impact of the illness has been that on my children, she added, who are now nine and eleven.
‘They don’t remember who I was before, already. It really sucks.
‘The worst part, the biggest punishment of all of this, is the impact on my kids.’
Ms Dressen was diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy — a condition that causes numbness and pain due to damaged nerves.
Doctors later classified her condition as a ‘post-vaccine neuropathy’ because of its links to the jab.
Previous studies have already linked this condition to the Covid vaccines, although they stress it only occurs in rare cases.
One paper published last year in Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports found a ‘greater than expected’ occurrence of the condition among those who received Covid vaccines — but concluded the evidence was not strong enough to recommend the vaccine be withdrawn.
Ms Dressen, pictured above, said she had become a shadow of her former self, unable to work, look after her children like she used to or even drive more than a few blocks
Ms Dressen is pictured above alone and with her children. Just one of the drugs she takes costs $119,000 per year, while she says AstraZeneca has only offered $1,200 as compensation
In her legal complaint, filed in the US District Court in Utah, she says she has become ‘a shadow of her former self’.
‘[I am]unable to work, unable to do any athletic activity, unable to parent the way she had, and unable to drive more than a few blocks at a time,’ the filing adds.
She also said her athletic life has collapsed, with Ms Dressen now unable to rock climb, hike, snowboard or wakeboard like she used to.
Before receiving the vaccine in the trial, Ms Dressen claims she signed an agreement with the company that promised it would ‘pay the costs of medical treatment for research injuries, provided that the costs are reasonable, and you did not cause the injury yourself’.
But she says that ever since the severe sensations emerged across her body after receiving the jab, AstraZeneca has refused to cover her care.
Her medical and legal bills have run into hundreds of thousands of dollars, with Ms Dressen telling a news site that just one of her medications costs $432,000 per year — which her insurance has reduced to $119,000.
In response, AstraZeneca has so far offered her a small sum in a deal that would have limited the company’s liability in a lawsuit.
Utah law allows those who sue for breach of contract to claim for costs resulting from the breach and for damages — which could result in a significant payout for Ms Dressen.
The US trial of the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine involved 32,000 people and found that the jab was 79 percent effective at preventing a symptomatic Covid infection.
America initially reserved tens of millions of doses of the jab, but the FDA never gave the green light for these to be used.
This had in part been blamed on communication problems between the company and regulators, with officials saying AstraZeneca was slow to disclose information.
In one case, its trial was halted for seven weeks until the company provided information to the FDA that its jab was not associated with neurological symptoms.
Tens of millions of doses of the jab were rolled out in other countries including the United Kingdom, with sales bringing in more than $5.8billion globally.
AstraZeneca admitted late last month that in rare cases its jab could cause the side effect, and this month withdrew it from sale.
A spokesperson for AstraZeneca said the company would not comment on ongoing litigation.
She said: ‘Patient safety is our highest priority. From the body of evidence in clinical trials and real-world data, the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine has continuously been shown to have an acceptable safety profile and regulators around the world consistently state that the benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks of extremely rare potential side effects.’
‘We are incredibly proud of the role the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine played in ending the global pandemic.
‘According to independent estimates, over six million lives were saved in the first year of use alone and over three billion doses were supplied globally.
‘Our efforts have been recognized by governments around the world and are widely regarded as being a critical component of ending the global pandemic.’